The Great Coat Closet Remodel Project – Insulate Me!

October 25, 2015

I am pleased to announce that this winter we will have no icy drafts coming in under closet door. No more extra work for the water heater, having to compensate for the cooler temperature in the uninsulated closet. Because as of yesterday, the closet is fully insuluated, baby!

The first thing that I needed to do was installed nail plates where the NM passed through the studs. Nail plates, for those of you who may not know, are installed on the outside face of the stud to keep you from inadvertently driving a nail or screw into it at the point where the NM is installed. If a nail or screw hit the NM, it could damage it, possibly causing a fire, or damage you, possibly causing injury. Nail plates cost about 10 cents a piece and are super-easy to install, so it’s a no-brainer. To install, align the long edges of the nail plate with the edge of the stud and simply hammer in. There are spurs on the upper and lower edges of the plate that bite into the wood and hold the plate in place. Hammer until the plate is flush with the stud. And that’s it.

I installed five nail plates, including two on the corner studs, which gave me a chance to practice my hammering skills. (Seriously, I am not very good at hammering. I tend to miss a lot unless I hold the hammer near the head.)

Next, I retrieved the remainder of our roll of insulation from the attic. There were three and half cavities to be filled. I donned my protective gear (full coveralls, gloves) and took my tools and the insulation out to the front porch. I measured out two 74-inch lengths and one 38-inch length. One of the longer lengths and the shorter length had to be split lengthwise into 8-1/2-inch and 6-inch widths. Cutting insulation across is pretty easy, but cutting it lengthwise is kind of a PITA. I finally got it all cut and stowed the extra insulation back in the attic.

I don’t have any “during” photos of the installation process, since unsuiting to take pictures and then resuiting would be decided inconvenient. Unlike the previous installation of insulation, I had to work around wiring and electrical boxes this time. I finally resorted to cutting the insulation as needed with scissors. I tried to install the insulation in such a way that I would still have access to the wiring should I encounter any issues with it once it is tied into the line. I had to cut some smaller pieces at times to fill in gaps around boxes, and there are a couple of bare spots where the NM runs. Nevertheless, this insulation is still quite easy to install – just roll into the cavity, fold the paper tab over the stud, and staple in place. Overall, I feel it is a job well done, and it will certainly keep the cold out this winter.

Here is the junction of the exterior wall (insulated) with the interior (uninsulated) wall:

Here is the area next to the already finished area, around the new switch. You can see a little patchwork around the switch if you look closely:

And here is the area around the new outlets:

And that’s it! The closet is all insulated and ready for drywall. I leaned a few pieces of drywall up against the insulation to to cover it and keep out curious kitties!

For reference, curious kitty:

My next step will be to install the ceiling and the recessed lights. Then, it will be time to tie the new electrical branch into the circuit, and make sure everything works.

With the exception of the drywall sanding process in the back of the closet, which was a frickin’ nightmare, the whole process has not been too bad. I listen to music while I work which makes it much more pleasant. The soundtrack of this project has been entirely Rush-based (for those of you who are interested), primarily Chronicles, Signals, and Moving Pictures.

Great bass lines, thought-provoking lyrics, air drumming opportunities galore, and nice long songs, so I can get plenty of work done before having to change up the music.